The SEGA Blog now offers a new trailer of the alien hive from Aliens: Colonial Marines, showing how this environment is realized in the game, contrasting their concept art with the finished level. Word is: "The Alien Hive is a dark, imposing place of fear you won’t soon forget. Bring your friends and enter the hive in Aliens: Colonial Marines on February 12, 2013."

"Is he?" makes sense to only one of your statements: "The Duke is still alive."

Not all that sure about that. We got Indiana Jones 4 a few years back, and it was a heaping pile. People could argue "be happy he's still alive," but that's not true. The crap we got ruined any interest fans had in another movie. It ruined any interest the people involved had in making another movie. Basically, it ruined the franchise. The franchise may have been dead otherwise, but it just ended all speculation.

Duke may have another game in him, but no one will care. It will have to be amazing to sell well, and Gearbox is by now pretty well aware that more Borderlands will sell more games than Duke. Hell, we have had two pretty decent Borderlands games. We've had one good Duke game.

So no, I am not convinced Duke is alive. Nor am I convinced he should be. No one wants a character like Duke anymore. The original speculation we kept getting that he'd be old and decrepit in DNF and facing the fact that he was no longer cool was interesting. Making him still young and vital and thinking he was cool, handled unironically, was just pathetic. There's really not much you can do with that. He's lasted longer than what he was designed to parody, with that reference now completely lost, and has managed to morph into what he was supposed to be a parody of, only even worse because it's 20 years too late.

Jerykk wrote on Jan 11, 2013, 00:46:I'd much rather play an Aliens game that's more like Alien than Aliens. Put me on a space ship with a small group of people. Now put a Xenomorph in there too. Force me to struggle for survival without any guns. The key here is to make one Xenomorph scary. Do that and you've reinvigorated an otherwise stale and tired IP.

You're thinking Amnesia meets Aliens, huh? It crossed my mind while I was writing my last comment, actually. I think it could work.

Not sure why the other guy wants Telltale Games to do it, though. The Walking Dead was neither scary nor realistic nor First Person nor anything I'd imagine a proper Alien game to be.

Jerykk wrote on Jan 11, 2013, 00:46:I'd much rather play an Aliens game that's more like Alien than Aliens. Put me on a space ship with a small group of people. Now put a Xenomorph in there too. Force me to struggle for survival without any guns. The key here is to make one Xenomorph scary. Do that and you've reinvigorated an otherwise stale and tired IP.

Telltale Games should really make an Alien game. They've already proven themselves with the 2012 GOTY, The Walking Dead.

I'd much rather play an Aliens game that's more like Alien than Aliens. Put me on a space ship with a small group of people. Now put a Xenomorph in there too. Force me to struggle for survival without any guns. The key here is to make one Xenomorph scary. Do that and you've reinvigorated an otherwise stale and tired IP.

2. First Person Survival/Horror, that's so freaking scary you shit your pants every step of the way.

Now, people like Jerykk might jump in and put to debate that games are never scary when you give the player a gun in their hands. Good point! But I argue that if you put a gun in the player's hand, make Alien encounters much more rare, make them move as quick as lightning as they should, and make them one-shot you once they're on you -- in other words make you indeed feel like a SHEEP among WOLVES XENOMORPHS!! -- now that's scary as shit.

Does anybody remember the last Aliens vs. Predators game released by SEGA ? Do you remember how it was priced at $59.99 and they had the nerve to actually charge more $$$ for two crappy DLC packs? Beyond that, do you remember that NO MAP EDITOR was ever released either ? How about NOT BEING ABLE TO CROUCH OR DUCK ? I love the ALIEN franchise and SEGA made a very pretty game that appealed to that...but for the love of gaming I will not give them one more red cent. That last box of tripe was the final insult. I sincerely hope that this time around they get it right - and if they do the same thing with this version as they did with the previous one ( which completely felt like they just wanted all the money they could get from pre-selling and reserve purchases to rabid fans)they can just cram it.

I mean really...no MAP EDITOR ? When a new game like this arrives half the fun is playing on new maps created by talented map makers. Any body remember Alien-Doom or the Alien Quake levels by John Diamond ?

I'm a big fan of Unreal Engine games, but this looks really dated to me. Usually UE games don't look this bad.

That being said, I love this universe and am looking forward to it. I enjoyed AVP, and am looking fwd to this one. I just love the weaps, the gear, the atmosphere, etc. I'll be keeping an eye on the reviews for sure.

"The worst of it all is i used to ENJOY getting excited for big titles like this, but these publishers just keep ruining my love for this wonderful hobby with their endless fuckery." - Sempai

StaticRandomNumber wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 15:33:That graphics in the trailer made me think of Natural Selection 2, I was expecting to see the shadow of an Onos...

The problem with Aliens for me, is that the world of it is so narrow, the surprise of discovering a person in a cocoon or seeing a chest burst only works the first time and each game seem to use that as their main set piece.

But I have enjoyed a number of books set in the Aliens universe, so I hope they can make a fantastic story happen, instead of just trying to surprise us the same way as the movies did.

I wished they would use NS idea for Aliens theme and have aliens vs. marines. There was a DOS version, but it didn't last.

Fantaz wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 15:16:How can you not make a good game out of this? Please just don't screw this one up, Gearbox, like you did Duke Nukem Forever ...

Lol, people really are stupid aren't they.

"Damn Valve, why do they make so many COD games.. DERPA DER!"

Gearbox !develop DNF

Gearbox /publish DNFGearbox /market DNFGearbox /saved DNF

You /shouldbegratefulifyouareatruefan

Grateful for... DNF?

Yeah, Gearbox didn't do most of the development. They still finished it, put their name ALL over it, made a ton of videos telling you how awesome it was, bought a ton of TV ads for it telling you how awesome it was, and asked you to pay $50 for it.

Ultimately, they put their reputation on it. Maybe not enormously, but they stepped in a pile of crap and asked you for money to see it. They deserve people still thinking there's some lingering stench coming off of them.

That graphics in the trailer made me think of Natural Selection 2, I was expecting to see the shadow of an Onos...

The problem with Aliens for me, is that the world of it is so narrow, the surprise of discovering a person in a cocoon or seeing a chest burst only works the first time and each game seem to use that as their main set piece.

But I have enjoyed a number of books set in the Aliens universe, so I hope they can make a fantastic story happen, instead of just trying to surprise us the same way as the movies did.

These guys are working with amazing concepts and materials, except you're right... it appears as if they may squander it with a meager attempt to produce a good Aliens game. This isn't Barney's adventure license we're talking about here, but instead the most beloved sci-fi horror/action franchise that ever lived! How can you not make a good game out of this? Please just don't screw this one up, Gearbox, like you did Duke Nukem Forever ...

netnerd85 wrote on Jan 10, 2013, 09:58:Gearbox did not develop Duke Nukem Forever, they only saved it from going under. They will be doing the next one though, since they own the IP. DNF was a good shooter though. You can never match 10 years of expectation, never ever ever.

Nonsense - it was just a shit game. Black Mesa was hyped for over eight years and that EXCEEDED my expectations.

As for ACM, I really want it to be a good game - and Gearbox is certainly a good developer in my experience (I loved Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway, Half-Life: Opposing Force; and Borderlands 1/2) - but the media I've seen looks really off. Low resolution textures, low polygon models, poor lighting, generic narrative, low quality scripted events, stiff animations, etc. It looks like a poorly done console game. If it was any other developer and franchise then it wouldn't even be on my radar.

I haven't seen anything to suggest it will be a credible PC port and it won't feature any DX11 effects (like tessellation, etc), so it's actually a backwards step from AVP at a technical level. I'll be waiting to see the review and user opinions on this one and I'll probably wait for a sale.

Level design was arguably the one thing DNF did right, the levels were a lot bigger and some were more open than your average modern shooter. The humor fell flat for me, I'm not sure if that's because I've grown up and Duke hasn't or a genuine fault of their writing.